But what’s truly amazing about Continetti’s passionate screed against the nepotistic liberal elite is that it was written by Matthew Continetti, who epitomizes what the Chinese call guanxi more than either Kass or Wagner, and arguably more than any American alive.

After graduating from college, Continetti received a well-funded fellowship at the Weekly Standard financed by a wealthy organization, founded by William Simon and Irving Kristol, which is dedicated to subsidizing conservative journalists. Book editor Adam Bellow had an idea for a project, and asked Bill Kristol, Irving's son, for a name. Kristol suggested his young charge, Continetti, who was also in the process of becoming Kristol’s son-in-law (you can read the wedding notice in the New York Times). Kristol probably didn't trouble himself too much about the threat to meritocracy, having himself attained his position in life in part by being the son of Irving Kristol. Needless to say, Bellow — the son of Saul Bellow, and the author of In Praise of Nepotism — probably didn't mind, either.

He probably really is a liberal in his deepest self, but the compromises he made along the way for the sake of a career as a pundit tracked him onto a conservative ideology that he actually despises but is unable to stop promoting.